FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida. — Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is dead. Linda Greenhouse of Yale Law School said Stevens came to the court during a much different political climate.
“His career in the court is a reminder of the way things used to be,” Greenhouse said. “That someone like him could be appointed by a Republican president without any ideological overhang.”
The third-longest serving member in the high court’s history died from complications of a stroke he suffered earlier Tuesday. He was 99.
Stevens was appointed to the bench in 1975 by President Gerald Ford and continued to call himself a conservative until he retired in 2010.
However, he was a leader of the liberal wing. He was a staunch defender of individual rights against the government. He was the second oldest justice when he retired at age 90.
(PHOTO: Allison Shelley/Getty Images)
